FDA in Brief: FDA expands 'The Real Cost' public education campaign with messages focused on preventing youth use of e-cigarettes

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“Too many children continue to experiment with a wide range of tobacco products – and e-cigarettes and vaping products are by far the most common. Expanding our highly successful public education efforts to include messaging about the dangers of youth use of these products is a critical part of our work to keep all tobacco products out of the hands of kids,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “Our comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation will better enable the FDA to protect kids and significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death. While we continue to encourage innovation of potentially less harmful forms of nicotine delivery for currently addicted adult smokers, we can all agree no child should be using any nicotine-containing product.”

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began expanding its public education campaign “The Real Cost” to educate teens about the dangers of using e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), specifically how nicotine can rewire the developing brain to crave more nicotine. New campaign content, including online video and radio ads, will appear on platforms such as YouTube, Hulu, and Spotify, as well as on the campaign’s website. This is the first time the FDA will explicitly address youth use of e-cigarettes and other ENDS through campaign advertising.

In addition to these new digital materials, the FDA is planning to launch a full-scale campaign focused on youth use of e-cigarettes and other ENDS in 2018. These efforts are part of the agency’s new comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation, as well as ongoing efforts to educate youth about, and protect them from, the dangers of using tobacco products. The campaign is just one component of the agency’s work to restrict youth access, limit youth appeal and reduce toxic exposure to youth from all tobacco products.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.